The Role of Front Line Service Employee in Select Service Industries in India

Abstract

Employee actions form a very important aspect of service delivery. It is the employee who is reflected as the organization across and along with the various touch points to the customers. The Indian services sector hosts a lot of industries and dynamics within each are undergoing change. However, the understanding and knowledge of critical customer behavior does cut across industries and enable firms towards success. The role of the employee is the key to success especially in the high customer contact service industries as the employee actions convey the professionalism, sincerity and seriousness expected from a company towards understanding its customer base. Researchers in the developed world have done studies but the literature developed in the West cannot be adopted to the Indian context. Research studies done in other countries need to be replicated to see if the findings are applicable in the changed context and condition and only then be generalized. This is very important as businesses in the marketplace may tend to build strategies based on literature and experience established in a different context. This research study is an attempt to analyze the impact that employee actions have on customers in select service industries in India. For the purpose of this study the service employee has been confined to the front line staff in the Retail, Hospital, Airlines, Hotels and Banking industries.